Closing the Springmill Learning Center would be a tragedy for all

The Mansfield City School Board's proposal to close Springmill Leaning Center is a complete tragedy to the school district, surrounding districts and all students.

Springmill Learning Center has approximately 4,500 student visits each year. This facility provides hands-on lesson-based education, which supports the Common Core curriculum. Springmill hosts students from 10 districts and serves Mansfield City School's 95 percent of the time.

When asked, the school board provided a reason for closing the facility as "Financially, Springmill has not brought in what expectations were set at."

The resolution to this problem is easy: Sell more days to surrounding districts and reduce the amount of days Mansfield City uses the facility. Springmill is currently staffed with five teachers and four para-professionsals. Additional cost savings would be realized should the school be staffed with three full-time teachers. This would still allow for the facility to support the galleries and the outdoor program and provide the one-of-a-kind experience our students deserve.

Springmill has had a total investment of $3 million, which includes updated windows, partial roof, state-of-the-art security and Wi-Fi, and a one-of-a-kind ceiling in the nation in one of the galleries. This facility is handicap accessible, including the ropes course which provides the a wonderful experience for students with - and without - handicaps.

Springmill Learning Center is a jewel to the Mansfield City Schools district,. It should be marketed and sold more, and not shut down for zero usage. The investment made does not get a chance to provide a return if the facility is shut down. The Springmill Learning Center has documentation from the Lucas School district, citing math scores rising and the only change in that year was the visit to the learning center.

Thank you for consideration as the board's decision and thoughts surrounding Springmill Learning Center are completely off-base.

Scott Redman

Mansfield

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Closing the Springmill Learning Center would be a tragedy for all

The Mansfield City School Board's proposal to close Springmill Leaning Center is a complete tragedy to the school district, surrounding districts and all students.